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IPI's top 10 press freedom stories of 2010

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Haiti's earthquake last year tops IPI's list of the 10 press freedom stories of 2010

Nancy Palus/IRIN

The year 2010 ushered in a number of major setbacks for the media across the globe, says the International Press Institute (IPI), from the numerous journalists murdered in Pakistan and Honduras to the oppressive media laws passed in South Africa. But what did IPI consider to be the number one press freedom event of 2010?

The 12 January earthquake in Haiti claimed nearly 300,000 lives, including those of 30 journalists, and virtually destroyed the country's media industry. A year later, many journalists continue to be out of work and others are striving to produce news about the earthquake's impact as well as the effects of the resulting cholera outbreak. For those reasons the earthquake tops IPI's press freedom events of the year.

Just across the way was IPI's number two story: Cuba's release of more than 50 jailed dissidents, including 29 journalists, many of them jailed in the "Black Spring" of 2003. Among those journalists released was Omar Rodriguez Saludes for whom IPI ran a "Justice Denied" campaign over the past several years. Saludes, like the other released prisoners, now lives in Spain.

Number three on the list was the nine journalists murdered in Honduras, and the fact that in not a single case was anyone convicted of the slayings.

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